Havana Magnet School, Havana FL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Havana Magnet School

Havana Magnet School serves prekindergarten through eighth grade in the small north Florida town of Havana, a short drive from Tallahassee in Gadsden County. It is the school that local children attend before moving on to Gadsden County High School, making it the anchor of elementary and middle schooling for the community.

The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic population and a small share of white students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic realities of Gadsden County, which publicly reported research describes as one of Florida's more rural and economically constrained counties. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the records reviewed.

State assessment results from Florida's FAST and Statewide Science assessments tell a mixed story. In reading and language arts, proficiency rates across tested grades range from the low thirties to roughly half of students, with fifth grade performing the strongest among tested ELA grades and sixth grade showing the lowest results. Math follows a similar pattern: fifth and seventh graders approach or exceed half of students scoring proficient, while third and sixth graders fall considerably below that. The sixth grade dip appears in both subjects, which is worth asking the school about directly. Science results are more uneven: fifth-grade science proficiency sits in the low forties, a passable result relative to the other subjects, but eighth-grade science proficiency is notably low, well below any other tested grade or subject. Parents of students heading into the upper middle school years may want to ask the school specifically about science instruction and support at that level.

No trend data was available to show whether these results are improving, holding steady, or declining. The county has only one district, so a meaningful peer comparison among county districts is not possible from this data.

No program information was provided in the records reviewed, so whether the "magnet" designation reflects a particular curricular theme, specialty pathway, or structured enrichment is not something this account can confirm. A parent interested in what differentiates Havana Magnet from a standard neighborhood school should ask Gadsden County Schools directly for details on what the magnet designation entails in practice.

The town itself is small and slow-growing, with a housing market that runs well below both the Florida and national median home values. Prices have dipped modestly in the past year. The stock of homes is older, most built in the latter half of the twentieth century, and single-family detached houses dominate. Rental cost data was not available. For a family weighing a move to the area, this is one of the more affordable entry points within a reasonable distance of Tallahassee, though publicly reported research notes that utility infrastructure constraints and the county's rural character limit new housing options.

Havana itself is a quiet, walkable downtown surrounded by a more car-dependent rural landscape. The commercial core, housed in former tobacco barns and early-twentieth-century brick buildings, carries antique shops, galleries, and cafes. Community amenities include two parks within town and transit connections to Tallahassee on weekdays through Big Bend Transit. The pace is unhurried and the setting is distinctly small-town Florida Panhandle.

The district brief search did not turn up confirmed parent-relevant policy or program changes underway in Gadsden County Schools, so that dimension of context is missing here rather than guessed at.

For a family whose children are in the earlier elementary grades, the picture at Havana Magnet is more encouraging than it is for those entering the middle grades, where science results in particular represent a soft spot worth investigating before enrolling.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 48% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 44% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 35% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 33% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 41% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 36% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 38% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 36% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 36% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 30% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 29 pts below state median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 40% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 35% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 25% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 88%

School 8% · District 8%

▼ 38 pts below state median

This schoolGADSDEN, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income36%Higher-income55%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income40%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income34%Higher-income20%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income31%Higher-income69%38 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income55%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income44%Higher-income50%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income23%Higher-income40%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income62%12 pp gap